Creativity

For me, variety is the spice of life. I love that God is infinitely creative and has made such an amazingly varied world. As humans, we are all unique - some of us are introverts and some of us are extroverts; some of us like noise and some of us prefer silence; some of us learn best by reading and some of us learn best by hearing; some of us enjoy making a mess and some of us enjoy bringing order; some of us like to use our voices to worship and some of us like to dance; some of us love to paint and some of us love to write ... I could go on and on because we are infinitely different. Our communities should be places to live out this creativity.

Loads of people say, "Oh, I'm not creative at all" - and it's complete rubbish! We are ALL made in the image of a creative God who lives in us and we are therefore ALL creative. But creativity is so much broader than we think. It's about knowing who we are and being released to live that out. There are so many ways in which we differ from one another and bring a different perspective or gift. We need to realise that creativity is not just about painting! And it shouldn't just be limited to the prayer/worship slot either - we need to be creative in where we make space for creativity! For example, there may be people in our communities who have new and exciting ideas for a social activity we could do together.

Having space for creativity in our communities releases us to be who God has made us to be and can also be a great opportunity for people to step up into leadership. Community members can take responsibility for a particular aspect of our community life (worship, prayer, food, a social activity, Bible study ...) but with the freedom to lead it in a way they're comfortable with. This releases them from the pressure of doing things the way they 'should' be done and feels a lot less daunting. Communities are a great place for this as they are a smaller group of people who already know us and support us. Our communities are safe and secure (hopefully!) and we can be who we are and have the confidence to try something new in them. They allow us freedom to risk and fail as well as a place to learn from our failures.

Releasing creativity in our communities brings freedom as we learn to be comfortable with who God has made us to be. It can be incredibly powerful and even lead to freedom in other areas. As we risk and experiment in one aspect of our faith (with the support of a community) it can empower us to be adventurous in other ways. (See Ben's post about The Ordinary Adventure.)

This isn't to say that things should be different just for the sake of it. Creativity comes from knowing who we are - it's a way to live out our uniqueness, not a case of doing something new just because it's different. It is also important to have a framework based on our vision and values and the balance of Up-In-Out (the Triangle lifeshape). But the framework provides a support for freedom and creativity which allows our communities to stay flexible and open to God's leading. Instead of being tied into a set way of doing things and building an unchanging structure, our communities can be innovative and experimental and organic. They become more multipliable because they are not limited to the small number of people who lead in the same way. If nothing else, a community where creativity is released is interesting!

And because we are all different and our own communities are different, I'm sure that the way you release creativity in yours is different to how I would in mine! We need to learn from each other - How have you given room for creativity in your community? How have you encouraged your community members to know who they are and live it out? Which ideas have worked well and which haven't? Let's encourage each other to live creatively - knowing who we are and living it out freely.

Picture by Francesco Marino from www.freedigitalphotos.net

The Gift of the Kingdom

It's just under 6 weeks to Christmas, or according to days-until-christmas.co.uk exactly 38 days 6 hours and 37 minutes (as I write this blog) to the day we celebrate God's greatest gift to us.  If already you can feel fear and panic rising up in you at the prospect of all the parties, services, shopping, wrapping, mince-pie gatherings and relative visiting you normally have to successfully navigate before reaching the 25th December, then read on...

Just take a few moments to imagine that you're just five years old.  How does it feel to know that Christmas is coming?

I wonder whether the anticipation of something like Christmas through the eyes of a child could be a profound way in which we as grown ups can understand how God gives us his kingdom: it's intended as a gift!

Jesus tells us in Luke 12 that the Father is pleased to give us the kingdom.  The father is pleased to give us the realm of possibilities where the reality of heaven becomes a reality in the here and now: in us, through us, and around us.

Jesus is talking about being free to live in the gift of each day.  Being free to live in the moment that God gives us each day as we wake up.  Being free to be available to receive the Kingdom without being distracted or compromised by our own fears or worries about what the future might hold, or put it another way: what we might need to do today in order to secure a safer tomorrow...

Jesus demonstrated a life that was free to be both fully focused on his future purpose and yet fully available in the present of what the Father was doing.

Later on in Luke 18 Jesus said that unless we learn to receive the Kingdom as a child, we will never be able to enter it.  Unless we learn to receive the Kingdom as a child looks to, anticipates and enjoys the gift of Christmas it's quite possible we will miss the moment, the joy, and the ease in which the kingdom is offered and received.

The kingdom is a possibility that always within our reach.  Yes there's a future kingdom that awaits us and we eagerly await it.  But the real question is: how available are we to live in the present moment of receiving the kingdom that the Father wants to give us today?  Or are we too distracted by the affairs of tomorrow to enjoy living in today?

So enjoy getting ready for Christmas.  Learn to enjoy the parties, enjoy the mince pies, enjoy the nights getting darker and the music in the shopping centres.  Learn to live in the here and now and ask yourself: where is God's rule and reign wanting to come close to me, and how can I receive it today?

Outworking this in missional communities...

• Are you as a community so focused about the future possibilities that you might be missing out on enjoying being together with God in the here and now?
• Are you living in response to fear or worry about the future which is limiting your ability to recieve what God is wanting to give you today?
• What does celebrating and embracing the preparation for receiving God's gift to us in Christmas look like with my community?

If you've got any comments, suggestions or examples of learning to be fully present and receiving the kingdom in each day please post below...

Grand Designs

'No-one can lay any other foundation than the one we already have -Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials -gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on judgement day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames'. 1 Corinthians 3: 11-15

What is the foundation we build our lives upon? It's Jesus -his grace to us in relationship, in freedom and in securing our identity with our Father. God is very concerned that we build on the right foundations. Sometimes our foundations are a bit shaky, sometimes we’re not on solid ground and maybe we haven’t realized. Fear, insecurity, wrong identity, misunderstanding the character of God, striving for acceptance, achievement and status in places other than our Father – all of these things need to be dug out and rebuilt on truth to make sure our foundations are strong, secure and will stand the test of time.

But God is also bothered about how we then build on that foundation.

This little passage from 1 Corinthians makes it clear that He puts value on how and what we build our lives with. Gold, silver and jewels indicate that there are things worth building that are of great value in the Kingdom. But it also suggests that there are things we can build that are of no eternal value and which will be burned up. The Bible is absolutely clear in this passage and in other places that what we do cannot earn us salvation -that is only possible through grace - but it seems that God does have an agenda for how we live our lives once we are in relationship with Him. So my question is, what are you building with?

How are you building the things of God and His Kingdom in your life, your family, your community, your workplace?

I'm not sure there is a list anywhere of what activities God does or does not consider valuable. I do think that the Bible makes it clear of one thing that is important, and that is LOVE. 'The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love' (Galatians 5:6); 'These three things will last forever -faith, hope, and love -and the greatest of these is love.' (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Love. Does your community, your ministry, your daily interaction with people ooze love? How is our motivation? Are we motivated by wanting success, by wanting influence or power, by wanting to look good in other people’s eyes, even wanting to achieve great things for the Kingdom? Or is our primary motivation to love the last, the least and the lost? In everything we do? It’s tough! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you examine your motives today in what you’re building.

Whatever you do, however you build, build it with love and I reckon you can't go far wrong.